Texas Instruments BA-35 Solar Calculator

January 21st, 2013

Doing the calculations

This site, when making calculations for itself, uses and prefers the Texas Instruments BA-35 Solar Calculator. This handy little calculator, which runs on solar power and does not need continual battery replacement, allows us to do the normal functions of a calculator (such as adding up, long division etc) but also has the following functions that we find invaluable:

1. Time value of money functions keys that allow us to, given key in assumptions to calculate:

Past rates of growth

Future rates of growth

Compounding returns

Past and future valuations of money

2. Standard deviations

3. Conversion of annual percentage rates to effective rates

The calculator is light and portable and the keys are of a size that even clumsy oafs like us can use without mis-keying.

The manufacturers supply instructions that actually make sense, and you can change the number of decimal places, which we find helpful.

Most importantly for us, you do not have to be a mathematical or engineering genius to use this calculator.

This calculator is recommended by Mary Buffett, former daughter in law of Warren Buffett, and David Clarke in ‘The New Buffetology’ as being able to do the kind of calculations that Warren Buffett does on possible investments

We do not pretend to know how Warren Buffett does his calculations, but we would not, at this site, be without our BA 35.